Michelle Lipchin checks out the view from 388 Bridge St., a new condo/rental hybrid in Downtown Brooklyn. She is buying a one-bedroom there.

By Max Gross
July 16, 2014

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“The first two weeks were a gold rush.”

That’s how William Ross of Halstead described the pace of sales at 388 Bridge St., the 53-story rental/condo tower in Downtown Brooklyn that put its condos on the market in June.

Since then, 42 of the 60 units on the market have contracts out. (The building will have a total of 144 condo units when all are released, alongside 240 rentals, which are about 75 percent occupied.) The condos have been moving at around $1,150 to $1,200 per square foot — with the unreleased penthouses expected to go for $1,600 to $2,100 per square foot.

These condos have attracted young and old; families and singles — everybody who wants one elusive thing: To buy in Downtown Brooklyn, where rentals have reigned supreme in recent years.

“There’s very little to buy,” says Michelle Lipchin, who, while living at the Brooklyner, a 491-unit rental, decided she wanted to purchase something in the area. She looked at a few lackluster resales until she found a roughly 700-square-foot one-bedroom unit at 388 Bridge that she’s now in contract for.

“Downtown Brooklyn was largely rental-driven since Lehman Brothers fell,” says Doug Bowen of Core. Prior to that, condos like Toren and 110 Livingston took root, but when the market crashed, developers stuck with the safer investment. “Most of the development — especially anything of size like the Brooklyner, or [the upcoming] Avalon Bay — was rental.”

But perhaps 388 Bridge signals a change — are developers in Downtown Brooklyn going to start turning once again to condos?

....A number of residential buildings in the works have been notably mum about their intentions: Oro 2, the sister building of Oro, which was one of the pioneer condos of Downtown Brooklyn, is well underway even though the developers won’t say whether the finished product will be condo or rental.

Back in February, Brooklynites were beating their breasts when they found out that Junior’s was selling its location to developers. No deal has been finalized, but “If someone’s going to pay the price anticipated, which is $400 to $500 buildable, someone’s going to choose to do condos,” says Stephen Palmese, a partner with Massey Knakal.

JDS Development’s 340 Flatbush Ave. Extension, which SHoP is designing and at 70 stories will be the tallest building in Brooklyn when it’s finished, will consist of 555,000 square feet of space. But the developers say they still aren’t sure whether they’re going to make its 495 units rentals or condos.

.....Back in February, Brooklynites were beating their breasts when they found out that Junior’s was selling its location to developers. No deal has been finalized, but “If someone’s going to pay the price anticipated, which is $400 to $500 buildable, someone’s going to choose to do condos,” says Stephen Palmese, a partner with Massey Knakal.

JDS Development’s 340 Flatbush Ave. Extension, which SHoP is designing and at 70 stories will be the tallest building in Brooklyn when it’s finished, will consist of 555,000 square feet of space. But the developers say they still aren’t sure whether they’re going to make its 495 units rentals or condos.

It should be noted that JDS’s founder, Michael Stern, is one of the most outspokenly bullish people in New York real estate when it comes to Brooklyn.

“In Manhattan, land costs are higher than the costs to build a building,” says Stern. “In Brooklyn, that’s not the case — there’s quite a bit of room for growth. And there are a large crop of people who are choosing to live in Brooklyn as their first choice.”

Which definitely helps explain why developers have been so focused on Brooklyn. But something else is driving the trend towards condos instead of more rentals — and that is the explosion in land prices.

.....all of the commercial and retail development in the works is only going to make the area more attractive for buyers.

City Point, for instance, the 1.9 million-square-foot complex (of rental and retail) which will be released in phases and completed in 2020, promises 700,000 square feet of retail, including an Alamo Drafthouse theater and a CityTarget.

“There’s been significant growth in retail in last 7 years, but we still think there’s a tremendous gap,” says Paul Travis, managing partner of Washington Square Partners, which is developing City Point. As for future commercial tenants, “It’s going to be very Brooklyn.” By that he means artisan and local.

Collectively all this development has attracted the kind of buyer who never before would have considered Downtown Brooklyn.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

Given the market for condos along the East Coast, I'd say its a safe bet to go for them. The condominium market is still going strong for many cities in the U.S.. It would probably be a safe investment, especially in Brooklyn. Although LIC will become the next DoBro soon enough.

Legendary Restaurant Is to Stay in Brooklyn
Owner of Junior’s Rethinks a Move

By VIVIAN YEE
SEPT. 8, 2014

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Junior’s Restaurant has earned a lot of superlatives since it opened in Downtown Brooklyn on Election Day in 1950, among them the one that adorns every orange takeout box: “The Best Cheesecake in N.Y. — New York Magazine” (a distinction that dates to 1973, but still).

It was headed for another distinction this year, when Alan Rosen, who took over the business in 1992 and whose family has owned the restaurant since its first cheesecake, decided to sell the two-story building. In a neighborhood where real estate brokers talk about record-setting prices and rents the way pilots used to talk about breaking the sound barrier, the sale was major news. Offers to buy and build an apartment tower poured in from Brooklyn, Manhattan and abroad. The highest bid: $450 per buildable square foot, well over the previous high for Brooklyn of $350, for a total of $45 million in cash.

“That’s a lot of cheesecake,” said Mr. Rosen — who, nevertheless, and after much agonizing, a visit to his therapist and a series of sleepless nights, turned it down.

“This is Junior’s identity, is this building. This is the one where I came on my first dates. It’s where my family spent most of their waking hours,” he said in an interview on Monday, about a week after making his decision, as he contemplated his stewardship of a legend in Brooklyn. “Not the one down the street, not the one below 20 stories of condos. This one.”

When Mr. Rosen, 45, put the site up for sale in February, he said he would insist that the buyer bring Junior’s back to the ground floor of any new building. In the meantime, he said, the restaurant would open at another Brooklyn location and temporarily relocate the flagship within the neighborhood. (It also has outposts in Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.) But he wavered over the summer, saying he would consider leaving the building permanently for the right offer.

The $45 million offer would not have accommodated a ground-floor Junior’s.

Mr. Rosen said he also received offers worth half that amount that would have allowed the restaurant to return, but after receiving disappointed calls from customers and talking it over with his longtime employees, his wife and his 81-year-old father, Walter Rosen, who still walks around the dining room some mornings, he decided he could not give it up.

Though Mr. Rosen insists the turnabout was a personal decision, not an attempt to preserve the old Downtown Brooklyn of which Junior’s is one of the few remnants, he is bucking a trend.

Once, Junior’s was the flashiest place around, bathing the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in neon-lit glory as presidents and princes flocked to its cheesecake cases. Now it is overshadowed, literally, by a nearby thicket of glassy spires that has risen over the past decade. Developers have built more than 30 apartment towers in the neighborhood, with nearly 30 more on the way.

In February, Robert Knakal, the broker on the not-quite-sale, declared the Junior’s location “the best site in Brooklyn.” On Monday, he was philosophical about watching his record-setting deal evaporate, even though, he said, “We always like to set pricing records.”

Mr. Knakal said he was consoling himself with the prospect of a couple of properties that would “probably” break the $500-per-square-foot barrier.

Mr. Rosen, for his part, was daydreaming about his customers’ telling him, “I’m so glad you guys are staying.”

“I’m not just running a restaurant,” he said. “I’m running something that has such a heritage and such a tradition for so many people here in Brooklyn, that it just can’t be replaced.”

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

So if Juniors is staying, they're almost certainly selling their air rights to the adjacent development site (340 Flatbush).

Should be interesting to see what happens on this block.

Yeah, they would likely still sell the air rights. There's more to the story than has been reported. He gets to look like the "hero" for staying (I've seen the news reports on tv), but can still take money.

The junior's site itself (shown below as tax lot 60) is just a portion of the site.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

Downtown Brooklyn towers overshadow the Avalon Willoughby West development — for now. When completed, the new building will be Brooklyn's tallest.

Avalon Willoughby West stands several stories above its construction fence.

By Lore Croghan
September 17, 2014

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Avalon Willoughby West, 100 Willoughby St.

The structural framework of Avalon Willoughby West has risen several stories above its construction fence.

Give it time — and this 57-story residential skyscraper that AvalonBay is building at 100 Willoughby St. will become the tallest tower in Brooklyn, its height just barely surpassing that of neighboring 388 Bridge St.

A spokesman for AvalonBay confirmed that 100 Willoughby will have 826 rental apartments, and told Eye on Real Estate the process of marketing them will start next spring.

The first apartments should be ready for occupancy next July or August and construction should be completed in September 2016, he said.

City Point, 70 Fleet St. and 336 Flatbush Ave. Extension

Two rental apartment towers are starting to soar at City Point, the 1.8 million-square-foot development that Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust are building on the site of the former Albee Square Mall.

Shoppers know City Point by the already finished Fulton Mall-facing retail building at 1 DeKalb Ave. that houses Armani Exchange.

From Flatbush Avenue Extension, the project has an entirely different — and quite dramatic — look, with new construction topped by yellow panels that glow like a golden crown.

We got word from a spokeswoman for the developers that the anticipated completion date for 250-unit Tower 1 is the end of next year, and half the apartments in the building will be affordable.

The anticipated completion date for 440-unit Tower 2 is mid-2016, the spokeswoman said.

This building, whose address is 336 Flatbush Ave. Extension, will be 38 stories tall, according to Buildings Department records.

By the way, commercial tenants headed for City Point include Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, discount fashion powerhouse Century 21 and City Target, which is a smaller-format version of popular (or at least it's popular with people whose credit and debit card info didn't get stolen) retailer Target.

340-366 Flatbush Ave. Extension

Plans have been drawn up for a 70-story skyscraper — which would knock the other contenders for Brooklyn's tallest building out of the running — at a site that's sandwiched between City Point and iconic cheesecake purveyor Junior's Restaurant.

The existing office building at 340-366 Flatbush Ave. Extension hasn't yet been demolished. But this is where Michael Stern's JDS Development intends to build a 775-foot tower with 495 apartments and 109,000 square feet of commercial space, a city Buildings Department filing indicates.

A closer look at the towers rising up at City Point.

That's Junior's to the left and City Point to the right. The building between them, 340-366 Flatbush Ave. Extension, is the site where a 70-story skyscraper is planned.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

It really puts things into perspective. Nine supertalls with residential function. Looking forward to next week.

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Stay tuned next week when we take the list down to 500 feet, an accepted benchmark defining skyscraper height.

514 Eleventh Avenue btw looks so imposing. What I would really like to see but I would imagine that it would be daunting is a list of every highrise (12/13 floors or greater) that has been built during this boom.

There was a discussion before about this but in short it's not going to happen. It's unnecessary.

Brooklyn does = New York. If we're separating the boroughs then most threads would have to be converted into Manhattan, New York (which is equally as silly). New York City is one city no matter where in the 5 boroughs.

I'd still like to have a separate diagram for Brooklyn for example. It's probably the largest place in the US without one.

JPMorgan Chase asking $100M-plus for ex-Brooklyn bank
Former site of Dime Savings holds hundreds of thousands of unused development rights

December 18, 2014

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JPMorgan Chase is putting the former Dime Savings Bank of New York in Downtown Brooklyn on the market for more than $100 million.

The landmarked bank hired a Massey Knakal Realty Services team led by Bob Knakal and James Nelson to market the neo-Roman building at 9 DeKalb Avenue, Crain’s reported. Chase is relocating its operations there to 490 Fulton Street, also in Downtown Brooklyn.

“This is an incredible asset that is one of the best buildings to hit the market in Brooklyn,” Knakal told Crain’s. “It holds a lot of exciting possibilities.”

The site boasts hundreds of thousands of unused development rights, which could be sold to the buyer of the Junior’s site at 386 Flatbush Avenue next door, as previously reported.

B'klyn landmark could become $100M-plus buy
JPMorgan Chase puts old Dime Savings Bank, next door to Junior's, on the market. Air rights account for bulk of its value.

BY DANIEL GEIGER
DECEMBER 18, 2014

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Even more valuable than the building itself are the 285,000 square feet of development rights that come with the landmark. Residential construction in downtown Brooklyn is booming, and as Crain’s previously reported, the Dime Savings Bank building sits next to several potential development sites that could be the locations of some of the tallest towers in the borough.

Among those who could get a big height boost to their project is developer Michael Stern, who is planning to erect a residential tower at 340 Flatbush Ave. Extension that is eligible to receive additional air rights from the bank. The bank building also abuts the famous Brooklyn eatery Junior's, whose owner has floated the idea in recent months of selling the property. A buyer of that site could also utilize the bank's air rights to build a soaring tower.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

With the extra air rights, this looks like it could breach the 900 foot mark. If we are lucky, maybe this will be the first Brooklyn supertall...

Bring a slice of 57th Street to Brooklyn. Stern is the man to do it, he thinks big and this could be it.

Yes, especially considering that small footprint. Adding 285,000 sf (more than the steinway addition itself) would send this one well above the current proposed height. And as we've seen with other towers after initial filings (111 W. 57th, 125 Greenwich, etc.), we could eventually see a larger tower here.

(illustrative purposes only)

I'm also curious as to where Extell stands, as the planned CityPoint phase 3 tower is also a neighbor.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.